Inside Urban Green

It’s Our Education Stupid

If we don't understand the difference between capillary action and osmosis, it's a symptom of an education problem. If we don’t understand that plants have no intelligence to start and stop “drinking” water, it's a symptom of an education problem. If we believe a clay pot and saucer is the best way to maintain plants in containers, it's a symptom of an education problem. If we think the term “self-watering” is synonymous with sub-irrigation, it's a symptom of an education problem.

I see these beliefs expressed every day of my blogging research on the web. They lead to an opinion that our level of science education in the field of gardening and horticulture is woefully weak. Is this an anomaly peculiar to the field of horticulture or is it symptomatic of our overall education?

David Brooks wrote an op-ed piece yesterday titled The Biggest Issue and benchmarked our education decline around 1975. I’ve been an eyewitness to much of this in the field of “ornamental” horticulture, which attracted high school students to land grant colleges by the thousands in the ‘70s.

How Green is Your Future Home?

See the cut Calla Lily

If you think a green home includes living indoor plants, guess again. Watch both of these videos about the Smart Home exhibition at The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

You will see that there are no plants visible in this version of a "smart" home. There is, however, a vase with a cut Calla Lily. Is this supposed to be an example of a sustainable green plant?

Note that both the Museum president and Smart Home architect have a living plant close by them.

As previously posted, an in-ground garden is a part of the Smart Home. In what appears to be an afterthought, there are EarthBoxes on the entrance stairs to the museum.

UPDATE 2009: It is really a smart home now. There are now EarthBoxes on the upper deck of the Smart Home. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I  believe this would not have happened without The Growing Connection, a UN organization stepping forward.

This Smart Home could have been a wonderful demonstration of 21st century edible and decorative greenscaping using modern sub-irrigation methods. The technology is here now but poorly understood.

Incidentally, I also noted that “high-tech” clay pots and saucers from Botanicalls are included in the exhibit inside the museum. How green is that? Hardly!

We have a long way to go.

Would You Like to be a Fishing Tutor Instead?

Trevor Paque at work in San Francisco in a garden his company planted in a client's backyard. (Peter DaSilva for The New York Times)

Here we have a new green collar job according to the New York Times. This green collar service takes care of vegetable gardens for wealthy clients who don’t want to get their hands dirty.

Read on and learn how to become a green collar savant to everyone rather than a garden servant just to the wealthy. Nothing wrong with that but perhaps you aspire to something more.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime....Lao Tzu

A far better green collar job would be to show urbanites of all income levels how to grow vegetables without turning earth.

All they need is six hours of full sun on a rooftop, balcony, fire escape or paved drive. There is no need for the heavy work of turning earth. Anyone regardless of age or physical ability can grow their own food in sub-irrigated grow boxes such as the EarthBox, Tomato Success Kit or a home made version.

Starting today, I’m offering to teach anyone here in New York City how to practice 21st century urban agriculture with proven sub-irrigation methods. You can then teach others and I'll help you do that.

With the recent emphasis on local food production, this could be the start of a new green collar career. Watch this video. It could change your life. 

You will not find these techniques taught anywhere that I know of in NYC, including our venerable botanic gardens.

If this isn't for you, tell your friends. It’s free as long as I can manage it.

Contact me at urbangreenscaper [AT] gmail.com

Source: The New York Times

A Richly Deserved Award

In my opinion, there's no organization more deserving of an award like this. The Rooftop Garden Project is in a class by itself. Congratulations!

A Phenix for Alternatives!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Alternatives won a Phenix environment award for its Rooftop Garden Project, in the Sustainable Development category.

The honour was bestowed by an independent jury for our outstanding role in promoting rooftop gardening in Montreal and internationally. Our semi-hydroponic gardens empower urban residents to produce their own food, green their neighbourhoods and build healthy communities.

Not only does the project give the opportunity for citizens to garden at home, it is also responsible for the creation of about 20 mid- to large-scale gardens in Montreal.

The project’s coordinator, Ismaël Hautecoeur accepted the award from Quebec’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Line Beauchamp at the National Assembly in Quebec City (see photo).

The Phenix awards are the highest environmental distinctions given in Quebec. This prize highlights best practices in environmental preservation and sustainable activities to maintain a high quality of living.

CAD Pattern Making

The Rooftop Gardening Project planter is simple to make but it would be helpful to have a cutting pattern for the platform. Unlike the relatively straight-sided box used by the RGP, the Rubbermaid tote boxes have undulating sides. These provide structural strength but make cutting the platform more difficult.

I made the first platform by trail and error cutting. I also made a cardboard pattern for future planter making.

It would be much better, however, if the pattern were made by a more precise method such as computer aided design (CAD). If you can provide suggestions and information about this it would be most helpful.

An actual size paper or cardboard template could then be made available for distribution to anyone interested in making these planters.

Tomatoes in the News

Whoever thought that tomatoes would be such a newsmaker? What we need now instead of salmonella news is some late breaking news about how almost anyone can easily grow tomatoes, even in the concrete jungles of our cities.

No, you don’t need to live in the country or the suburbs. Sunny rooftops and sun filled pavement will do just fine. All you need are some sub-irrigated grower boxes as are so effectively used at McGill University and the Rooftop Garden Project in Montreal. They’re more northern than we are and these methods are working spectacularly for them. Why not here in the U.S.?

It's not likely to happen without more progressive gardening voices in our media. For example, this is a gardening article in The New York Times titled Tomato Catch-up. Cute title but there’s not a word about modern methods of growing them in over 1,400 words.

In my opinion our “paper of record” should be doing a better job of communicating with people who actually live in small city spaces and are not fantasy farmers.

Flickr Container Gardening Group

It is quite revealing that there are only eight photos of EarthBox type gardening posted to this Flickr Container Gardening group. All of them were posted by Bruce in Wicker Park, Chicago.

Thanks to the woefully weak education sponsored by our national gardening institutions is the subject ot sub-irrigated vegetable growing planters virtually ignored. It appears that "old shoes" both literally and figuratively are preferred.

From the Flickr group home page

Container gardening: growing plants in pots, planters, half barrels, buckets, jars, old shoes - basically any container other than the very earth itself.

Container gardening allows horticulture in portable formats and small spaces, permits flexibility and interchangeability in the landscape, brings plants to unexpected places, livens up outdoors spaces, bridges interiors and exteriors and brightens mundane urban landscapes.

Balcony and roof gardening, hanging baskets, potted plants, herbs and veggies grown on the window ledge, planters of all sizes. If it's a plant, it's alive and it's growing in a container, add it to this group.

Don't hold back with just plants in bloom - show your potted herbs, veggies and foliage as well.

Please add the tag "container gardening" to your posts.

Please don't include shots of cut plants or flowers, plant macros, bits and pieces of plants, etc., as there are groups for those already. Show us the plant and the container it's in, whether beautiful, ugly or otherwise.

Put a Little Science in Your Life

This op-ed piece has been on the New York Times Most Popular articles emailed list for the past several days. It was number one for a while. Perhaps some of our local horticulturists read it too. One can only hope.

At the same time, the soldier’s letter emphasized something I’ve increasingly come to believe: our educational system fails to teach science in a way that allows students to integrate it into their lives. Read more...

No Science and Little Art

June 8, 2008 - new leaves are a growing! - See an updated photo of the repurposed pop bottle planter.

This tiny Polka Dot plant was a handout at the World Science Festival Street Fair today. One of our botanical institutions was giving them out to demonstrate their kids gardening program. I don't see any science here, only imprecise "art". 

The little plant was installed in an overly heavy compost, certainly not a good media for an indoor plant. When I removed it from this soil, I noticed a fungus gnat (Sciarid fly), a sure sign of soil that is too moist.Their larvae thrive in soil like this.

Following is the text of the "plant care sheet" included with the plant. The method of planting along with the vague, unscientific care sheet leads me to predict that few of these plants will survive. I don't see that as a good way to introduce kids to gardening.

Plant Care Sheet Hypoestes "Polka Dot Plant"

Polka dot plants come in white, red, or pink, and are native to Madagascar. Polka dot plant makes a nice houseplant. Don't place in direct sunlight. Low light will help prevent spots from fading. This plant likes humidity, and you can pinch younger stems to help keep it full and bushy.

When you get home, put your plant on your windowsill with a saucer underneath it. Keep soil moist but don't overwater. If you put your finger in the soil and it feels dry, it's time to water your plant. If the soil feels damp, your plant needs no water. Don't forget to check your plant every few days! Enjoy.

Children's Education

                                                                                                                                                

The plant is now installed in a pop bottle (sub-irrigation) planter. It's planted in a mix of coir and potting soil, The little plant will be cared for using scientific methods. It has an excellent chance for a healthy and robust future. I'll post updates in the future.

Sunset No Self-watering

An email newsletter from Sunset magazine led me to do a site search on "self-watering". It produced zero hits. I thought there would be at least a few.

How can the publisher of the renowned Western Garden Book omit a subject as important as sub-irrigation (aka "self-watering") planters, particularly in the water scarce west? It seems their editorial staff has grown roots on their feet.